Magnetically actuated toy having movable features



March 26, 1968 G. H. BISHOFF 3,374,573

MAGNETICALLY ACTUATED TOY HAVING MOVABLE FEATURES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 2 Sheecs-Sheet l March 26, 1968 G. H. BISHOFF 3,374,573

MAGNETICALLY ACTUATED TOY HAVING MOVABLE FEATURES Filed Oct. 24, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a2 1 Al? 4n 4'2 Ji 11 II 420 415 g 2 GUSTAV H. B/SCHOFF' United States Patent ()fiice 3,374,573 Patented Mar. 26, 1968 3,374,573 MAGNETICALLY ACTUATED TOY HAVING MOVABLE FEATURES Gustav H. Bishoif, 7489 Drexel Ave., University City, Mo. 63130 Filed Oct. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 504,307 6 Claims. (Cl. 46-437) This invention relates to action toys.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide toys with parts which move in interesting and amusing ways, for the entertainment of persons of every age.

Another object is to provide such toys which are easy and economical to produce, and which are appealing to the eye.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.

In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a toy is provided which has two parts, a fixed base in which is a strip of magnetic material with laterally extending magnets of alternately difierent poles with a non-magnetic space between successive poles, and a figure, preferably representing some animate object, with at least one element which responds to the attraction and repulsion of the magnetic poles of the base strip. In the following description, four specific embodiments of object parts of the toy are described. One has a single responsive part which reciprocates vertically. A second, has two parts which reciprocate vertically alternately. A third has a part which moves from side to side. The fourth springs bodily. All of the embodiments of object of this invention are characterized by acting iri response to manual translation. That is to say, as the object is pushed along the surface of the magnetic strip, the object or part performs its particular operation.

In the drawing, FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective showing a base with its magnetic strip, and an object part constructed in accordance with one illustrative embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in side elevation of another embodiment of object part of this invention;

FIGURE 3 is a view in rear elevation of the object part shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a view in perspective of the object part shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a view in perspective of the object part shown in FIGURES 1 and 5;

FIGURE 7 is a view in rear elevation of the object part shown in FIGURES 1, 5 and 6; g

' FIGURE 8 is a view in side elevation of still another embodiment of object part of this invention;

FIGURE 9 is a bottom plan view taken along the line 99 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a top plan view taken along the line 1010 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 11 is a view in side elevation of yet another embodiment of object part of this invention, in the act of jumping; and

FIGURE 12 is a bottom plan view taken along the line 12-12 of FIGURE 11.

Referring now to the drawing for illustrative embodiments of the toy of this invention, reference numeral 1 indicates a base, which, in the embodiment shown in FIG- URE 1, takes the form of a long, narrow box lid, with side walls 2, end walls 3, a bottom 4, and a strip 5 of magnetic material.

The strip 5 is a flat, thin strip of commercially available material. Such material is used for magnetic belting, and also for magnetic latching. A suitable strip material is sold by B. F. Goodrich Company, as flexible Koroseal magnets. It is characterized by having transversely of it magnetic poles which are successively north and south poles, with an unmagnetized space between each of them. In the preferred form, each of the transverse magnetic poles is approximately one-eighth inch wide in the long direction of the bed, and the unmagnetized space between them is approximately the same width. The bed is glued or otherwise secured to the bottom 4.

The embodiment of object part shown in FIGURES 1, 5, 6 and 7 takes the form of a stylized bird 10. The bird 10 has a large flat foot 11, a leg 12, a hollow body 13, a neck 14, a head 15 and a bill 16. The bill 16 is a small cylindrical bar magnet with one pole at its exposed end. The body 13 is made up of two circular fiat sides 21 and a tubular bridging wall 22. The tubular bridging wall 22 has a circumferential gap in it, through which the neck 14 extends into the interior of the hollow body 13. The neck 14 is long and is pivoted intermediate its ends on a pin 13 which extends between the two flat sides 21 near the gap in the bridging wall as shown in FIGURE 6, and is provided on its inner end, opposite the head 15, with a counter-weight 19. In this embodiment, the counter-weight 19 is not heavy enough to over-balance the weight of the head 15 and bill 16, so that the head normally assumes the position shown in solid lines in FIGURE 6. The counter-weight 19 is, however, of sufficient weight so that as the bird is pushed along the strip 5, the repulsion of the similar pole in the strip for the pole at the free end of the bill 16 causes the head to move upwardly, around the pivot 18, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 6. As the bird is pushed further along the strip, the head drops as the bill passes over the unmagnetized area between poles of the strip, is attracted by the opposite pole and is then again repelled, and so seriatim.

In the second illustrative embodiment of object part of this invention, illustrated in FIGURES 2, 3, and 4, the part takes the form of a clown 210, with a thin, upstanding body 213, a platform 214 to which the body 213 is secured and left and right feet 211 and 212 respectively. The platform 214 is made up of a relatively wide heel 213 and a T-shaped toe portion 215, with a stem 216 and, at the forward end of the stem 216, a cross-piece 217. The rear end of the stem 216 is set into the heel 213, as shown in FIGURE 4. The feet 211 and 212 are arranged along opposite sides of the stem 216 and are pivoted to the stem 216 by means of a transverse pivot pin 218, on which the feet are loosely pivoted. Each of the feet is notched to receive the crosspiece 217, so that the feet lie fiat against a plane non-magnetic surface on which the figure is placed, as shown in FIGURE'Z. A thin, light magnet 208 is secured to the under side of the foot 211. A thin light magnet 206 is secured to the under side of the foot 212. The magnet 208 has the same polarity on its lower surface as the polarity of the magnet strip 8 in the base strip, and the magnet 206 has the same polarity on its lower surface as the polarity of the magnet 6 in the base strip. Preferably, the magnets 206 and 208 are as narrow as the magnets 6 and 8, although they can be slightly Wider, since they can extend over the un-magnetized sections 7 of the strip. If the magnets 206 and 208 are of the same width as the magnets 6 and 8 and the un-magnetized areas 7, the figure can be placed upright on the strip with the magnets 206 and 208 over an un-magnetized area 7, in which case both feet 211 and 212 will lie flat on the surface of the strip 5. As the figure 210 is pushed along the strip 5, however, the feet 211 and 212 will alternately rise and fall as the magnets pass over like and opposite poles as indicated in FIGURE 2, producing a droll appearance of walking.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURES 8, 9 and 10,

a hinge pin 318. A forward vertical surface of the neck 314 is rounded off to form a semi-cylindrical leading edge, and the head 3-15 is provided with a semi-cylindrical 7 socket 319 into which the leading edge of the neck 314 extends. Both the body 313 and the head 315 are provided with broad fiat bottom surfaces, so that the figure can stand upright, as shown in FIGURE 8. A bar magnet 320 is set into the under side of the head 315, with a south pole at one end and a north pole at its other end,

transversely of the head. As the figure 310 is pushed along the magnetic strip 5, the poles of the strip alternately attract one end of the bar magnet 320 and repel the other, and repel the first end and attract the second, so that as the figure is pushed along, the head tracks from side to side, as indicated in FIGURE 9, in an exaggeratedly life-like manner.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURES l1 and 12 the object part takes the form of a stylized frog 410. The frog 410 has a hollow shell of a body 413, and a foot 411, which is in the form of a thin-walled flat-topped platform with a down'turned rim 412 around three sides of it. In plan, the foot 411 is substantially isosceles trapezoidal with a scalloped base edge 415, to simulate the edge of a frogs webbed foot. In the embodiment shown, the top wall of the platform is cut away in an oval shape to receive the lower part of the shell body, as shown in the two figures, to facilitate manufacture and assembly. At the rear of the underside of the platform 411, along the edge opposite the scalloped edge 413, a strip of magnetic material .420 is mounted. The magnetic strip 420 has single pole on its downwardly facing surface. When the frog 411) is pushed along the strip 5, it has been found that as the magnet 420 passes over a magnet of the strip 5 of the same polarity, the frog is given an upward thrust which, taken together with the forward thrust imparted as the figure is moved manually, causes the frog to jump quite realistically.

Numerous variations in the construction of the parts of this invention, within the scope of the appended claims, will occur to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure. Various of the movements of the objects of the illustrative embodiments may be combined. For example, a stylized crocodile might be provided with a hinged head of the same general character as the head of the dog shown in FIGURES '8-10, and with a jaw which operated in much the same way as one of the feet of the clown of the embodiment shown in FIGURES 24. Another kind of variation is in the moving parts themselves. If a second gap is provided diametrically opposite the neckaccomodating gap of the bridging wall of the bird of FIGURES 1, 5, 6 and 7, and a tail is attached to the counter weight, to project from the second gap, the bird can be provided with a tail which moves in A the opposite direction from the head These are merely illustrative of obvious variations.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed an elongate strip of magnetic material having a multiplicity of narrow poles each of which has the same polarity along a surface of the strip and successive of which have opposite polarity and all of said poles extending transversely of and across the strip, and an object adapted to be supported by and moved along and relative to the surface of the said base strip, said object carrying a magnet adjacent said strip when said object is resting thereon, said magnet being alternately attracted and repelled as the object is manually translated and being connected to at least one element of said object to produce an alternating movement of the element as the object is moved manually lengthwise of said strip. i

2. The action toy of claim 1 wherein the object is a stylized bird having a fiat foot, a hollow body, a neck pivoted on a horizontal pivot within said body, a head connected to said neck and a bill connected to and projecting downwardly from said head, said neck having, withing said body, a counterweight to said head, said head normally being gravity biased against the bias of the counterweight to a lowered position, said bill being of magnetic material and having a pole at. its lower end, whereby, as the bird is translated manually along the length of the surface of the base strip, the repulsion of the bill magnet and each strip magnet of the same polarity causes the headto rise abruptly.

3. The action toy of claim 1 wherein the object is a stylized human figure with a platform for maintaining it upright and feet pivotally mounted on either side. of

said platform for lifting movement, each of said feet having a magnet with a single pole face exposed to the surface of the base strip when the object stands thereon, and the polarity of the exposed pole of the magnets of the two feet being opposite, whereby, as the object is moved along the length of said strip the repulsion of like poles causes the feet to lift alternately.

4. The action toy of claim 1 wherein the object is a stylized figure of an animal having a body, a neck and a head hingedly mounted on said neck on a substantially vertical axis, and a magnet having a pole at each end mounted on the underside of said head adjacent said axis, whereby, as said object is translated along the length of said strip, the head is moved from side to side by the alternate attraction and repulsion of the poles of the strip and head.

5. The action toy of claim 1 wherein the object is a stylized jumping creature comprising a hollow, light weight shell and a platform on which the shell is mounted, said platform being essentially isosceles trapezoidal in plan, and a magnet is mounted at and across the underside of the narrow end of said platform and has a single pole face directed at the base strip surface, whereby, when the object is moved along the length of said strip, the forward component of the movement and the upward component provided by the repulsion of like poles produce a forward 7 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,623,326 12/1952 Kinney 46236 2,659,998 11/1953 Cavanaugh 46--243 3,045,393 7/1962 Knott 46-240 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ACTION TOY A PART OF WHICH IS MOVED MANUALLY WITH RESPECT TO ANOTHER PART, COMPRISING A BASE INCLUDING AN ELONGATE STRIP OF MAGNETIC MATERIAL HAVING A MULTIPLICITY OF NARROW POLES EACH OF WHICH HAS THE SAME POLARITY ALONG A SURFACE OF THE STRIP AND SUCCESSIVE OF WHICH HAVE OPPOSITE POLARITY AND ALL OF SAID POLES EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF AND ACROSS THE STRIP, AND AN OBJECT ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED BY AND MOVED ALONG AND RELATIVE TO THE SURFACE OF THE SAID BASE STRIP, SAID OBJECT CARRYING A MAGNET ADJACENT SAID STRIP WHEN SAID ABJECT IS RESTING THEREON, SAID MAGNET BEING ALTERNATELY ATTRACTED AND REPELLED AS THE OBJECT IS MANUALLY TRANSLATED AND BEING CONNECTED TO AT LEAST ONE ELEMENT OF SAID OBJECT TO PRODUCE AN ALTERNATING MOVEMENT OF THE ELEMENT AS THE OBJECT IS MOVED MANUALLY LENGTHWISE OF SAID STRIP. 